


The Terrible Dragon

by Kenken244



Series: The Terrible Dragon [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Demons, Dragon/Human Romance, Dragons, Elves, Feelings, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Interspecies Romance, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recovery, Romance, Slow Burn, Wizards, dragon cuddles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:08:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28171437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kenken244/pseuds/Kenken244
Summary: a Dragon wakes from a long slumber, feeling drawn towards an unknown goal. when that goal turns out to be a human wizard just as clueless and traumatized as he is, will they be able to make things right together?
Relationships: Original Male Character/Dragon
Series: The Terrible Dragon [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2063763
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	1. Unfortunate Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first time ever posting my own work online, so uh, hello! good morning! hi! ect.  
> please don't be mean or then I will also have to be mean and that will make me sad.  
> also I like dragons, in case you can't tell  
> I couldn't get the formatting to work right, so some things are weird. I guess that's just how it has to be
> 
> I should note that I consider this a rough draft for now, and I will almost certainly rewrite it once it's finished

The dragon awoke. He wasn’t very happy about it. How long had he been asleep? He didn’t remember anything, honestly, he wanted to still be asleep but something seemed to be pulling him into wakefulness. Groggily, he tried to remember what had happened and what he was doing in this cave. He remembered, anger, RAGE, such powerful hatred that seemed to overwhelm him. Then he was flying and he was tired, so he went to this cave to sleep and then… it all felt like so long ago. But he couldn’t have been asleep  _ that _ long. Where was he even going? He didn’t remember. He couldn’t really remember  _ anything _ .

At this point, his thoughts were interrupted by his stomach rumbling. Well, he could start with that. He sniffed and smelled a farm not too far away, maybe a mile or so. The air smelled  _ good _ too, not just the scent of prey when he was hungry, but there was an energy to it, a sense of promise that wasn’t there before. He had a feeling today was going to be a good day.

He flew over to the farm. There were a couple elves running around in fear, doing whatever it is that small people did when they were afraid. He felt a lingering anger from… whatever it was he was doing before, but he didn’t bother them, elves were much too gamey and had hardly any meat on their bones. They weren’t even worth the trouble to eat

Now that he had woken up, he was actually feeling really  _ good _ today. Maybe he wouldn’t burn down their house and slaughter their entire herd? He felt...  _ happy _ . He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt  _ happy _ . He wasn’t a very happy person. Seeing people being happy usually made him angry, but now he was here in this pasture, smiling like an idiot. He quickly tried to hide his smile, but it was useless. At least he could make it look like he was enjoying the slaughter. A dragon did have to keep up appearances.

He was helping himself to a few chickens and a sow when he felt something different. A  _ pull _ , no, not a pull, an  _ attraction _ . He  _ wanted _ that thing, whatever it was. It was what was making him feel so giddy for no reason. He was annoyed at that. Nobody was allowed to manipulate his emotions without his permission. He had to find out what it was. Once he had control of that thing, he could go back to… something else.

***

Many miles away from the ravaged pasture, a human stood in his kitchen drinking coffee, still groggy from sleep. He sometimes marveled at the strangeness of his situation. Humans were very unusual here in the Outerlands, as the outer planes were often called. Long ago the more magical creatures of the world left the humans to the Overworld (why was it called that? All the depictions he had seen of the planes showed the overworld at the bottom, where the Great Tree rooted), and most humans didn’t even believe in the supernatural any more. He was probably one of a handful of humans that were even aware of the supernatural, let alone to live in the Outerlands

But he was different. He was a Wizard, probably the only human in centuries to legitimately claim the title. A Wizard was a human who found a powerful source of magic. Paradoxically, the lack of natural magic sometimes made wizards the most powerful casters of all the many magical disciplines. Without any natural magic, they had no biological or psychological constraints on what they could learn, leading many wizards to master all known forms of magic, often even inventing entirely new forms that could only be utilized by a wizard. 

Of course, they were limited by the raw magic they were able to draw from. Most wizards started their career by finding some sort of powerful magical artifact that bled raw magic, but historically many would bind demons or other powerful magical creatures to increase their power. This was one of many reasons the otherfolk (what a stupid name! But he supposed calling them “supernatural creatures” would be strange to them, not to mention it was quite a mouthful) separated themselves from the human world. Of course, he didn't need to do anything like that. He was content with the power he had, limited though it was.

_ It's amazing how easily you can lie, even to yourself. _

He sighed. There were those thoughts again. He had heard them called many things, his second thoughts, his internal dialogue, metacognition. Whatever they were, they told him the things he didn’t want to hear. They watched the world and himself and told him the things he  _ needed _ to hear, even if he didn’t  _ like _ to hear them at all. He would be annoyed by them if they weren’t so damn  _ useful _ .

But now his mind was wandering. Again. He didn’t exactly mind taking his time on quiet mornings like this. He could sip his coffee and watch the sun rise over the perpetually autumnal forests of the vale. He enjoyed quiet mornings like this, so he stood and watched the view through his floor to ceiling window. (and it was quite a view, if he did say so himself. He situated his house on a small hill overlooking the forest for a reason) Suddenly, he felt a strange snapping sensation. One of the protective wards around his house had fallen.

It was his weakest ward, meant simply to push people away when they approached his property without taking the designated path. It could simply have been a large creature of some kind wandering around the forest. But that didn’t make any sense, there weren’t any creatures that size around here. He started when he felt another one fall. THAT one was a shield strong enough to stop a charging minotaur. Now this was serious. He peered out his window, scanning the horizon, squinting against the rising sun. 

It took a moment before he realized that whatever it was wasn’t coming from the ground. It was airborne. And it was  _ fast! _ He only had enough time to see a black streak with an impressive set of teeth and claws charging towards his window before he jumped out of the way.

With a thunderous  _ CRASH!  _ A mass of black scale broke through the window, shards of glass bouncing harmlessly off of a protective magical barrier around the wizard. He was impressed. That was high-quality ballistic glass imported from the overworld, strengthened with magic. It was  _ at least _ as strong as steel. Whatever had come through was clearly unconscious from the impact. Perhaps that was for the best, if he had bounced off the poor creature might have broken his neck. He finally took a good look at the creature. There was no mistaking it. This was a  _ Dragon _ . 

Adrenaline started to pump through his veins as he took stock of the situation. He always had a cool head in a crisis. First things first, are there any others coming for him? He cast a minor Divination to determine if anyone else was around, looking to take advantage of the breach the dragon had created. No, he was safe. The window had been shattered completely, and he would need to gather up all the broken glass shards before he could repair it. He left the window open for now. The dragon might be badly injured, and it wouldn’t do to let someone be hurt like that, and at the very least he needed some information.

He moved over to the dragon to check it for injuries. Amazingly, none of the glass shards had pierced his thick, scaly hide. Though, his wings were torn up pretty badly. His head was bruised,, and… oh no, the poor creature broke a horn. Well, he could heal that with magic easily enough, but it would be painful until the nerves healed themselves. His main concern was the possibility of concussion. He had to admit, he didn’t know much about head injuries aside from the common symptoms of concussion, and the dragon would have to be awake for that. 

He levitated the dragon over to his living room, while with his other hand, he hand pushed the furniture out of the way with a force projection. The dragon's head ended up resting on a couch, while the wizard saw to the injuries on his wings. He was never very good at healing magic, and healing also required a strong understanding of the relevant creature’s anatomy, which he didn’t have. The books he had read on dragons were very lacking in factual information on what a dragon was supposed to look like while it was alive. Still, he managed to stop the bleeding and suture the cuts with magic. It surely would heal eventually, though he should apply some antiseptic ointment later. 

With that done, he moved over to examine the dragon’s head. Aside from the bruising and broken horn, there didn’t seem to be any other injuries. At least, externally. He started to pull open the dragon’s mouth to see if it had broken any teeth, when the dragon woke up, eyes focusing on the wizard and mouth contorting into a snarl.

***

The dragon pulled back, taking in his surroundings. He was in a building of some kind. Trapped, no doubt. It didn’t matter, he could smash his way out easily enough. Suddenly he remembered, he used to have a castle all to himself. Despite the head injury, he was starting to regain his memory. His wings, his head, his horns, hurt like hell. And there was this human here. Why was there a human here? Of course, he was a wizard! He looked the part, too: Big pointy hat and baggy robes. He remembered seeing the man and knowing that  _ this  _ was the thing he had been looking for. And he had charged at him.. But why? His mother always told him that humans were bad news, and wizards were the worst of all. It was such an  _ obvious  _ trap. No doubt the wizard wanted to chain him up and use him as some kind of magical battery to enhance his powers. He growled at the man with as much menace as he could muster. But despite him being nearly twice his height and probably twenty times his weight, the man merely smiled.

“Hey, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just trying to make sure you are ok.” the wizard was examining him critically, no doubt searching for weaknesses. “You took a bad blow to the head, are you feeling any nausea, ringing in your ears, or any other odd symptoms?” 

So the wizard was trying to earn his trust. It wasn’t going to work. No doubt he needed him healthy for some cruel experiments. The dragon simply snarled back at him.

The wizard continued: “I’ll have to take that as a no for now. Well, you are free to go whenever you want, though you seem to be in no condition to fly. I would like to at least get the glass out of your scales. That has to be very uncomfortable.” 

The dragon shifted slightly. Yes, it _was_ very uncomfortable, he had to admit. there were small cuts and lacerations underneath his scales where the shards had embedded themselves, and every time he moved they cut a little deeper. But there was no way he was going to let this man know about it.

The wizard looked at him patiently, and after a few moments he said “so is that a yes or no to getting those glass shards out? I think I have some ointment somewhere, too.” 

The dragon grumbled for a bit. It would take  _ forever  _ to get those shards out on his own. Some of them might break off and be stuck in there for  _ weeks _ . If this wizard was so intent on making him comfortable, let him, he could always kill him later.

He grumbled for a bit, but at last, the dragon nodded.

The wizard obediently began pulling the shards of glass out, starting with the biggest, while his other hand held out, like it was feeling for something, though it touched only air. After a minute, a strange looking translucent container flew through the doorway into his hand, and he began to squeeze a strange goo out of it. The man gently massaged the ointment underneath his scales… and surprisingly, it felt really nice. The annoying scrapes and cuts were soothed. And though his head and his horns still hurt, especially when they scraped against the unusually tall ceiling, he found himself relaxing a bit. Yes. he could put up with this for now.

Meanwhile, the wizard kept on chatting to him. “Not the talkative type, are you? I know that dragons are capable of speech, so you can’t pull that trick on me. anyway, one of your horns broke off when you crashed through the window, sorry about that, it's magically reinforced.you know, If you wanted to drop by, you could have landed outside. I could have opened it up for you. Hmm, some of these cuts are actually rather deep. They must chafe badly. Anyway, I should probably introduce myself, my name is Tobias Caedmore, I’m a wizard, and this is my house. I don’t know why you decided to stop by, but could you at least tell me your name?” 

Now he knew what annoyed him so much about this… Tobias. He wasn’t afraid of him at all. He showed him no  _ respect _ . He had smashed his way into this man’s house and he acted like he was just an unexpected guest! Anger started to well up inside him. Yes, now he remembered his name.

“ I am Abberax the Destroyer, lord of these lands. And I ought to destroy you for not showing me the proper respect!”

Predictably, the wizard seemed not at all perturbed by his threats. “Abberax… abberax…” he said, as though trying to remember something, all the while massaging more ointment into his scales. “Oh! I remember, you were that dragon who had a little ‘empire’ some 200 years ago. You must have been hibernating this whole time, if you don’t remember.”

There was no  _ way  _ that was true, he couldn’t have been sleeping 200 years! “I see right through your lies, trickster!” Abberax snarled.

Tobias continued, almost conversationally, “yeah, 210, years ago, I believe. Last anyone saw of you was when you smashed your whole castle to rubble and flew off into the mountains. There have been a few expeditions of monster hunters that went out looking for you, but none of them ever found anything. Speaking of which, you probably shouldn’t go around telling everyone you are going to destroy them, there’s a lot more monster hunters than there were 200 years ago and… are you ok?”

Abberax wasn’t paying any attention anymore. At the mention of monster slayers all his memories came flooding back. Oh gods, his parents, his  _ sister!  _ They had died because of him! It was all his fault!  __ And he  _ deserved  _ it. He was a monstrous creature that existed to cause and receive pain , and…

As if to make things worse, that damned wizard stopped blabbering and just stared at him, looking him in the eye with a look of  _ pity _ . 

“I can see that you are hurt, and not just physically. Is there anything I can do to help?”

That was  **_IT!_ ** He was a mighty dragon, and he wasn’t about to take this man’s  _ pity  _ on top of all the disrespect and embarrassment he had already suffered. He fell back into that all-too-familiar feeling of rage and hate, and he lashed out at the wizard, intending to pin him to the floor.

Instead, the skinny wizard simply raised a hand and an unseen force stopped his claw. He desperately tried to bite at him, but his teeth rattled when they were pushed away by a wave of his hand.

The dragon's facade of anger began to shatter, and was replaced by the fear that always was lurking below. He tried to breathe fire, but found the flames quenched before they ever left his throat. He tried to pull away, but he was stuck by whatever force the wizard was holding him with.

Tobias was saying something to him, almost shouting, but his mind was too cloudy to understand. He had lost, he had failed. He was going to be punished for this. In his mind, he was back in his cage, awaiting his punishment. And oh how much he deserved punishment. He had been a very bad dragon. He was going to be beaten and broken and battered until he was inches from death, but they would never ever let him die…

The wizard finally released him, and he shrunk back into a corner. There was no escape, if he tried, he would be punished even more. He tried to look small and weak, maybe he wouldn’t hurt him so badly. But this man was so powerful, he would never be able to escape. He would be hurt and tortured forever and ever…

As his new master ran into the other room, he tried not to think about what he would do to him when he came back. He tried not to cry as his mind went back to all the tortures he had endured before, knowing this time would only be worse...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Abberax has a lot of issues


	2. Despair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abberax has a crisis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up darker than I anticipated.   
> Content warning: Abberax attempts suicide.  
> I wasn't originally intending that to happen, but it makes the most sense given his attitude and world view.  
> It is not my intention to glorify or glamorize suicide here. if anyone reading this is considering suicide, please call the national suicide prevention lifeline at 800-273-8255  
> if you have enough strength to consider suicide, you have enough strength to survive.

Tobias leaned over his kitchen counter, head hanging low. He really fucked that up. Adrenaline comedown had him feeling nauseous, and it was replaced by a feeling of acute anxiety. How could he have been so stupid? He should have  _ noticed  _ that the poor dragon was distracted, but he kept blabbering on without even paying attention. And now the poor creature was terrified of him. He should have been more careful.

He remembered looking into the dragon’s eyes and seeing that  _ look  _ of pain, guilt, dread, hopelessness, and self loathing. He remembered that look, because he had felt it before. To be in such incredible pain and yet to also think that you  _ deserve _ it. Gods, he felt so much affection for the poor thing. All he wanted to do was make that dragon feel safe and loved. Just one look in those beautiful ruby eyes was enough was enough to make him feel an incredible fondness for the poor creature

_ I think what you feel goes beyond mere “fondness”  _

Yes, yes, what I feel is a lot more than fondness. No need to be so dramatic about it. But I can’t keep feeling sorry for myself, there’s still a twenty foot long dragon in my living room

He sighed, and tried to clear his mind. How could he get through to Abberax that he wasn’t going to hurt him? Clearly he had triggered his trauma somehow. He would have to be careful. He tried to remember what he knew about dragons

  
  


Dragons were incredibly rare. Most had been hunted to extinction centuries ago by the otherfolk and even humans. Dragons were known to hoard treasure, and their body parts were very valuable for many kinds of magic. Worse still, they were known to be exceptionally cruel and tyrannical, fond of imposing their will on others. All this made them valuable to hunt.

And this, of course, was according to the history books. But those were written by the winners, and dragons were clearly the losers here. What few dragons were known to remain lived in places so inhospitable that nobody could even get close to their lair, and they kept to themselves for the last few centuries. Some books also suggested that dragons were capable of taking humanoid form, and might be hiding amongst other creatures. But what did he have that could be seen as a peace offering to a dragon?

Food. that was a good start. He had a few pounds of bacon he had just bought. It was supposed to last him a while, but he would bet the dragon could eat it all in one sitting and still be hungry. Might as well make all of it. Everyone liked bacon, right? He tried to push his anxiety away and dumped all his bacon into his largest pan. While he could cook it with magic, it never tasted right. 

The whole time the bacon was cooking, he was trying to see what the dragon was doing. He couldn’t see him from the stove, but he could hear soft sobbing coming from the corner where the dragon was curled up, trying to make himself small. He wasn’t doing a very good job of it. At least he hadn’t run away, but that might also be a bad sign. He could feel his head race with a hundred different possibilities, until he finally just scooped the half-cooked bacon onto a plate and brought it over.

“Hey, I brought you some bacon. Are you hungry? You should eat something”

The dragon was pointedly looking away from him. The sobbing stopped as soon as he entered the room. He sat down on the floor next to the dragon’s curled up body and put the plate on the floor in front of his nose. 

“It’s bacon. It’s good!” he said. Chewing up a piece himself to show it was safe. Ooh, it really did need to be cooked more.

The dragon was still ignoring him. No, not ignoring him, he was very explicitly trying to avoid eye contact and make himself as small as possible. 

“Please eat something! I’m not going to hurt you. I promise!” 

The dragon obediently took a bite of the mound of meat on the plate, shooting only a single glance his way, and quickly shrinking back when he made eye contact.

“No, no, you don’t HAVE to eat anything if you don’t want to, I’m not going to force you to do anything!”

The dragon didn’t react well to this, recoiling from the plate as though he had been hit. 

Dammit! Now he was giving him mixed signals! Why was this so  _ hard? _

“It's ok! It's ok! You haven’t done anything wrong!

Abberax just looked confused from this. Tobias didn’t know what to do, and he was starting to panic, so he just moved to the next thing on his list. He moved over to the shattered remains of the floor-to-ceiling window. With a moment of focus, the glass shards began to levitate and merge back into a solid pane of glass. He noticed how carefully the dragon watched this happen. He thought he was trapped here. That wouldn’t do at all. With another projection of force, he pulled the glass from the frame and set it against the wall. 

“I’ll leave the window open if you want to go outside. You aren’t a prisoner here. The food is yours, you can eat it if you want. If you need anything at all please just ask. But… I wasn’t lying when I said there were monster hunters around. I will reset my wards, so you will be safe here.”

Was it right of him to tell the dragon to stay here? He was clearly afraid of him, and would probably take it as a threat. Plus, the dragon had clearly done fine on its own for 200 years. On the other hand, he was clearly traumatized and needed a safe place to heal instead of hide away from the world… dammit! He had already said it, no point second guessing himself. He could argue with himself for days if he got carried away.

* * *

Abberax began to relax once Tobias was gone, but that didn’t make him any less confused. The wizard had just left him alone? Unsupervised? With a clear path to escape? This had to be some sort of trick. If that man had enough power to stop a charging dragon, to make dragonfire falter in his throat, it surely would be trivial to track him down. He didn’t  _ need _ a cage or bars to keep him trapped. Maybe this was some sort of test of loyalty.

Abberax shuddered as he remembered that feeling when his fire was quenched. It was like his energy, his  _ life _ was being drained away. He knew he would die that way, a shriveled, lifeless husk, denied even the ability to fight until the end. 

He tried to think back to the things his mother had said about humans. He couldn’t even remember what his mother looked like anymore; he couldn’t remember the sound of her voice. But he could remember what she said would happen if he ever went into the human world: he would either be killed for his magic, or worse: they would keep him, break him completely. They would care for him, but never let him leave. They would make him love them, but if he displeased them they would kill him without a second thought. He was going to be a  _ Pet _ .

The dragon tried to hold back tears again. He didn’t know if he could survive imprisonment again. He would be totally broken, become this man’s plaything, exist only to please him. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. It was probably better than the endless torture he had endured under his previous master. But no, that he could resist. They could break his body, but never his spirit. He always kept a part that was  _ him,  _ that they could never touch. But this man… he remembered that feeling he got when he was first drawn here, some sort of spell, maybe. This man would break him, body and soul. 

He couldn’t let that happen. He would rather  _ die _ than let that happen.

And he could. He could kill himself.

He had never considered that before. It was exhilarating, really. He finally had control over his own destiny. Not even when he was “emperor” had he been in control, not really. But dying would solve all his problems. The only question was, how? Dragons were hard to kill even at the best of times. There was no wound he could inflict on himself that wouldn’t heal. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the air shimmer as the wizard put a new ward in place. Yes. that would work. 

Part of him wanted to charge outside and throw himself into the barrier, but instead he found himself trotting over lethargically. From here he could feel the magic in the barrier. It was  _ powerful _ . He had no idea how he had managed to ignore it on his way in here. Dragons had a natural affinity for magic, and he knew instinctively that if he pushed himself up against the barrier in just the right… wrong way, it would trigger a clash of magic that would destroy them both. Or possibly just him. It didn’t really matter either way.

Eventually, Abberax took a deep breath, let discord enter into his body’s own magic, found just the right spot, and then threw himself sideways into the barrier…

...only to fall flat on his back when it offered no resistance whatsoever. He got back up, and tried again. Nothing. The magic of the barrier easily moved around his body. So this was it. He was completely powerless. He couldn’t even end his own life. 

He laid on his back, staring at the overcast sky, wishing he could just will his life away, as he slowly sank into the mud. It was then that he heard Tobias’s voice again.

“What was all that jumping around that you were doing? I made an exception in the barrier to specifically let you through. Like I said, you aren’t a prisoner here. You can come and go as you please.” 

And now the wizard was here. Great. He wasn't listening to anything he said, he really just didn't care. He didn't care about anything anymore. He was this man's property now. He had to do whatever he wanted.

* * *

Tobias was puzzled by the dragon's actions. At first he thought the dragon was expressing joy at being able to leave, but the way he rolled into his back crying of defeat suggested otherwise. What was he doing? Suddenly, a strange thought hit him:

__ _ He was trying to kill himself _

Where had that thought come from? It wasn't his usual type of thought. It didn't even make any sense. But something told him this thought came from the dragon. Was it some sort of telepathy? Was some part of the dragon's mind reaching out for help? One look in the dragon's eyes was enough to see it was true. Gods, he couldn't help himself anymore. He knew the dragon was afraid of him, that the last thing he should do is touch him without permission, but he just  _ had  _ to comfort the poor creature.

He slowly wrapped his arms around the dragon's long neck, and hugged him. This close, he could hear the sobbing, and Abberax flinched when he touched him, but he held on anyway; moving from his neck down to his head, rubbing the sides and the base of the horns, pulling himself closer. He took one look in the dragon's eyes before they were shut tight, as though afraid to even look at him. He tried to reassure him

"It's ok... you're safe here... nothing's going to happen... I care about you... It's going to be ok..."

Eventually, the sobbing became quieter, and the dragon’s breathing slowed, until at last he was asleep.

Well, that went better than expected. It seemed like even though Abberax was clearly afraid of him, he still had a calming influence on the creature. That was very peculiar. Something was definitely affecting the dragon. Why else would he charge into his house, only to almost immediately assume he had been captured, then fall asleep in his supposed captor’s arms? Well, he would have to get the dragon to talk to him if he was going to figure anything out. 

He considered leaving the dragon here to sleep, but he was slowly sinking into the mud, plus it was quite cold outside. Abberax did have a very high body temperature, but that might just mean he was even more susceptible to cold. He eventually decided to bring him back inside.

It was quite cold in his living room, since almost an entire wall was open to the outside. He didn't want to close the window though, in case Abberax took it the wrong way. So he decided to leave the dragon near the barely used fireplace, and set up a roaring fire. 

With that, he left the dragon peacefully sleeping. He was covered in mud and he still hadn't eaten yet. He needed a bath and a change of clothes at least, and maybe he could finish cooking some of that bacon. It was probably for the best if he wasn’t around when Abberax woke up again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah, Abberax had a pretty messed up past, and has trust issues. and communication issues. and dominance issues. and... lots more issues.   
> Tobias has some issues too, which are hinted at here, but we will see more of that later.  
> I had hoped to get to the cute stuff sooner, but they both have a lot of work to do first  
> stay tuned!


	3. Chapter 3

Abberax was dreaming of his home. He dreamt of it often, but this time, there was no fire, there was no blood, there were no men in armor to kill his parents and capture him and his sister. This time, his mother was wrapped around him, holding him close. He couldn't see her, couldn’t even remember what she looked like, but he could feel her intense warmth against his back.but he saw the shiny golden scales on her tail. They made him feel bright and happy. And he felt safe.

He smelled something wonderful too. Like that meat he had earlier. Somehow heating food up made it taste better. He saw a pile of meat in the corner. He walked over and ate it, but it had no taste. It just turned to dust In his mouth. He was so hungry, he could feel his stomach rumbling. He looked to his mother for help, but all he could see was a light that got brighter and brighter until it turned into a fire.

Abberax jumped awake. There was a fire, but it was in one of those boxes smallfolk used to keep fires in. He had been drooling, but his tongue and mouth were dry. He hadn't slept _that_ soundly in ages. He looked around the room Gradually, he remembered where he was. Still in the wizard's house. Strangely, he didn’t feel as anxious as he did before. He was in a dangerous place, but he still felt calm, why was that?

He could still smell food. He must have smelled it while he was asleep. It was coming from the other room. He tried to ignore it, but eventually his hunger won out.

Creeping over as quietly as he could manage, he craned his neck through the doorway (though it was large enough for his whole body to fit through if he wanted to). The wizard, Tobias, was heating up some meat over a fire. It smelled amazing. Sure he had already eaten, but with food that smelled this good, he would eat until he burst.    
  


To his horror, the wizard noticed him prying and looked at him

“Smells good, doesn’t it?” he said, smiling “want some? You can have as much as you like”

While before his head had been muddled by sleep and the smell of food, now he remembered what he was doing before he got here. The wizard had manipulated him into falling asleep, and now he was trying to bribe him. It must be all part of that pet thing. To control him by making him want to please them. He had seen some of his old master’s prisoners act the same way, though the methods were different. It had to be a trick, whatever the price was for this food, he didn’t want to pay it

But despite everything, he  _ wanted  _ to take it. It wasn’t just that it was probably the best food he had ever had in his life, but making that damn wizard happy made him happy too. He  _ must _ have put some sort of spell on him. All he wanted to do was nuzzle him, pull him close, lick him, cuddle him...

“You’re drooling” observed Tobias “sure you don’t want any?” 

“ _ NO! _ ” Abberax shouted, rearing back, “I don’t want anything from you! I want to leave!”

“I  _ told  _ you, you can leave whenever you want! The window is open! The barrier won't’ stop you. You can go!”

But that was just the problem ,he  _ didn’t  _ want to leave. His emotions were such a mess, but even though he  _ knew _ the human was bad news, he just felt so  _ good _ here. Just thinking of leaving made him feel like he was suffocating. Like this was the only place he could breathe. it didn’t make any  _ sense _ .

“You put a spell on me! I can’t leave!” 

“I haven’t done-”

But Abberax wasn’t listening, of course he would deny it. It must be all a part of that “pet” thing. To turn him into a nice, obedient dragon. But he was strong, and he could resist. He would show him what a bad pet he would be. And if he was killed for it, then he was willing to pay that price

He charged forwards and smashed the nearest table, and with another swipe of his claws he reduced a chair to splinters. Three more were set alight by dragonflame. The fire was doused almost as quickly as it was set

“Abberax, please stop! Can we please just talk about this? Tell me what’s wrong!”

But he didn’t want to talk, and he didn’t want to stop. He wasn’t going to let this human tame him, he wasn’t about to be broken, the man would have to kill him first.

He tore down a chandelier with his jaws. A swipe of his tail plowed straight through the countertops. But when he twisted around again to go after the stove, he saw Tobias standing in the way, and his claw already on its way to its target. 

It wasn’t like he was avoiding hurting the human. He wasn’t afraid of retaliation, that was the whole  _ point _ ; he just thought that attacking the wizard would just get him stuck again. Yet, for some reason, he still tried to stop himself before his claw made contact. 

It didn’t work

He watched in horror and surprise as his claw sliced through the man’s robes and scored a red line across his chest. Blood began to drip from his wound. Why didn’t the human stop him like last time?

“Ow!” Tobias jumped back, clutching his chest

So this was it. This was how he was going to die. The wizard would kill him for this, there was no way out. It wasn’t like he didn’t expect this, hell, he  _ wanted _ it. But he was such a coward, he still was afraid. He wanted to run away, but he couldn’t. He wanted to fight back, but he couldn’t. He was so overwhelmed, he couldn’t do anything. He just wanted to roll over and die. So for the third time today he laid on the floor, accepting his fate.

***

“Ow!” the sudden pain knocked Tobias back to reality. He had been distracted by trying to calm the dragon down, while also trying to understand his behavior and limit his damage, and he hadn’t really registered that, in fact, having a rampaging dragon in your kitchen is somewhat dangerous. He had been so foolish. While he did still have some basic magical protection, if he had become too injured to focus properly, he would be unable to use magic to defend himself. Once again he was letting his emotions interfere with sound judgement.

But none of that mattered right now. Fortunately, his cut was not too deep, and he was able to close it with magic fairly easily. It would hurt for a while, and might leave a scar, but he could deal with it. Abberax, meanwhile, was cowering on the floor again. The dragon's behavior was so strange. What was going on inside his head?

Tobias tried to focus and figure out what was going on. The rapid changes in emotion reminded him of bipolar disorder, but that wasn’t usually this rapid… where had he seen something like this before? Ah, that’s right, arcane vertigo. This was a lot more intense than any he had heard of before, but if dragons were really as sensitive to magic as he believed…

“Hey, I’m not going to hurt you” he soothed, but Abberax merely closed his eyes and pointed his head away “It's going to be ok, things will be better soon.” he tried to stroke the dragon’s neck, but his body was so hot it nearly burned his hand. So he settled for laying belly first on the floor in front of him. He smiled pleasantly at the dragon, not for much reason, as Abberax had his eyes shut and was looking away. Then, he tried to explain, with as pleasant a voice as he could manage

“So, what I think is going on is that you are suffering from manic episodes induced by a high level of ambient magic. I’ve never heard of it happening this badly before, but I assume that dragons are more sensitive to magic than most. And while I try to disguise it, this place actually has very high levels of magic, which is probably why you were drawn here. Does that make sense?” 

Abberax shot him a single glance, then pointedly looked away again.

Unfazed, Tobais continued: “it's called arcane vertigo, and its induced by rapid changes in levels of ambient magic, especially to creatures highly dependent on magic. Your metabolism goes into overdrive, and all your thoughts and emotions are amplified greatly. If you just relax, your body should adjust after a while.”

The dragon was still ignoring him. But he was too stubborn to let something like that stop him

“If you want me to leave you alone, you just have to say so” 

Still no response

“Alright, I can take a hint. I’ll leave you alone. Please don’t smash any more of my stuff.” as he turned to leave, he heard the raspy voice of the dragon again

“Wait!”

He turned back to the dragon, and met his gaze with as much friendliness as he could manage. Abberax looked shocked, he probably hadn’t intended to cry out like that. Tobias waited for a bit, but Abberax seemed far too nervous to actually say anything. So he tried to prompt him.

“If you need something, you just have to ask. I’m not angry with you” 

Abberax looked even more uncomfortable after that. He stared bug-eyed at Tobias. Tobias sat on the floor again to try to look less menacing, while Abberax drew his head closer to Tobias. After what seemed like an age, Abberax finally answered.

“Why?” 

“Why am I not angry with you? Because I can tell you are hurting inside, and because I know that your emotions are very out of control right now. I can fix all the things you broke, and you didn’t hurt me that badly.. And I like you. I’ve never met a dragon before, but I have always wanted to. I hope you will decide to stay, but I won’t force you to.”

“You won’t force me to stay?”

“No”, Tobias reassured him, “I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to”

For the first time since they met, Abberax actually looked hopeful. He finally seemed to be getting through to him. He held out his hand hopefully, and Abberax rested his head in his hand. Trying to ignore his own rising anxiety, he gently rubbed the dragon’s head, which was much cooler than the rest of his body.

“That’s it, just relax… deep breaths… “ he said, almost for himself as much as it was for the dragon, whose body began to release vapor as it cooled. Now that his adrenaline was going down, and the dragon was actually starting to like him, he began to feel incredible anxiety. He was never very good with people, and with someone he felt so strongly about, he had so many raging emotions. But he steeled himself against it. He had to put on a strong face for Abberax’s sake.

After a few minutes of cuddling, Tobias finally asked, “so do you want anything?”

And Abberax pointed those big ruby eyes at him and said, “bacon?”

Tobias smiled to himself and stood up, passing the pan of bacon behind him. By the time he turned his head to follow, the bacon was already gone, and the dragon was making chewing noises. 

Tobias just chuckled, and said “I knew you would like it” he watched the dragon’s various facial expressions as he experienced the joy of bacon for the first time, after he was finished, he said, “you know, it might help for you to get away from here for a bit, so you can acclimate gradually. There’s a hot spring not far from here, you can get all that mud off and relax a bit. 

And then maybe he could help him clean… wait, why did he suggest that? This was going to be really awkward, he knew how his body felt about the dragon, and Abberax definitely did  _ not  _ need to deal with that right now

_ Its not just your body that feels that way _

Fine, yes, whatever. It doesn’t change the fact that he did  _ not _ want to be pressing Abberax into a relationship while he was still recovering from whatever trauma he had gone through. But it was still a good idea to get him out of here for a bit…

His mind snapped back to reality just in time for the dragon to nod in agreement. the look Abberax was giving him suggested he had no idea what to do, and was just going along with him for now. 

So we’ve gone from being terrified of me to being emotionally dependent on me, he thought, that’s still an improvement, I guess?

He led the dragon back out through the open window, and they headed off into the woods. He kept a staff around for appearances, and now he was using it as a walking stick, clutching it tightly and trying to keep his emotions in check. Abberax was quiet the whole way, which was fortunate, because with how much anxiety he was feeling, he wasn’t sure he could focus on a conversation right now

He had walked through these woods many times, and while it was usually relaxing to him, now he could barely focus on navigating. Still, it only took a few minutes to reach the hot spring. Fortunately there wasn’t anyone else there. This was a relatively secluded area, but you still occasionally got people wandering by. 

Abberax, meanwhile, seemed to have lightened up considerably. As soon as they reached the spring, the dragon dove in, splashing water everywhere. He proceeded to roll around in the water, trying to get the caked dirt off. 

There goes my ‘I don’t want to get my robes wet’ excuse, Tobias thought. I just hope he doesn’t ask me to join him, I don’t think I could handle that.

But  _ Dammit, _ Abberax was so  _ Cute _ ! He wanted nothing more than to cuddle with him. he actually seemed to be happy, and that was making his heart all aflutter. But he knew that those feelings could quickly change from affection to attraction. Most otherfolk could smell pheromones, and arousal was a particularly strong one. Tobias had trained himself to suppress those feelings, lest he attract unwanted attention. He wasn’t sure Abberax would be able to trust him if he knew what he really wanted. 

_ What you really want is to love and care for him. Everything else is incidental. _

It was true, he did really care for Abberax; he had known him for all of an hour, and already he was lovestruck. But it was also true that he wanted more. And it felt wrong. Like he had ulterior motives, like he wasn’t giving Abberax a choice, like he was abusing his trust. He just needed to keep this all under control for now. He could deal with it… later. But a sudden realization once again brought him back to reality

_ Someone else was here _

Tobias spun around, suddenly alert, and he saw a figure standing nearby, staring at Abberax. It was an ash demon, one of the more human-like races of demon. He was staring wide eyed at the dragon, and started shouting

“Holy shit! It's a dragon!” 

Before he even had a chance to react, Abberax charged, pinning the man under one claw, dripping water everywhere, and snarling. Tobias rushed over, grabbing his arm and stroking his neck, trying to calm him

“Hey, it’s ok, he was just wandering by. He hasn’t done anything wrong, and he isn’t going to hurt you. You can let him go. Please” 

The man was just staring at the dragon looming over him, mouth agape. He didn’t even seem scared, almost, awed? This certainly wasn’t the typical demon, who would be making all sorts of threats at this point, pinned or no. But with Tobias soothing him, eventually Abberax let up. The ash demon looked awkward, as though he was the one who did something wrong.. And he was still staring at Abberax. After several awkward moments, Tobias asked,

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, uh, I guess. I should go then.” 

The Demon turned tail and walked away as fast as possible. Tobias noticed he was sweating. But he also noticed one more important thing, a symbol on his armor. It was the symbol of the Order of Monster Hunters.

Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Abberax is a bit of a drama king


	4. Closeness

Abberax was still dripping wet when they arrived back at the house. As soon as they got inside, he rushed to the fireplace and curled up in front of it. 

“Cold, cold, cold!” he shouted. His voice was a lot lighter than usual.

Tobias could only smile at that. “Okay, okay, I will grab you some towels. And maybe some blankets.”

When he got back, Abberax was rolling around on the floor, trying to dry himself off. 

` “Here, I got some towels” he began to lay them out on the ground to soak up some of the water. Abberax promptly crumpled them into piles of rags by rolling all over them. 

“Hold still!” he said “let me get this nice warm blanket over you” Abberax obediently sat on the floor.

As he draped the blanket over the dragon, Abberax craned his neck around and pulled him closer, knocking him off his feet, landing in the crook of his neck. 

“Oh! Um… this works too. You could have just asked” 

“I want you” Abberax growled, staring greedily at Tobias. Then he blinked, and looked at him strangely. “Why do I want you? Why do I like you so much?”

“Uh, I’m not sure what you mean” said Tobias, clearly perturbed by this

“I WANT you, I want to have you close, and make you happy, and you make me happy. I flew for miles just to come here because I felt like I should. If you didn’t put a spell on me, why do I feel like this?” 

Tobias’s head was swimming. Why was it that the dragon saying he liked him had such an effect on him? Sure, he had feelings for Abberax himself, but clearly he was having an emotional crisis, and these feelings might be brought on by arcane vertigo rather than being real feelings. It was selfish to put his own feelings first when Abberax clearly needed help. So he tried to push all those feelings down, he could deal with them later. 

Meanwhile, only dimly aware that he had been asked a question, his mouth started moving on autopilot. He had been thinking of this after all, and he had a few theories.

“Well, when magic is controlled by a particular individual, it tends to take on aspects of them. By now, the aura of my source has probably reached every corner of this plane. Someone very sensitive could pick up on it, which is why I picked a plane with no powerful magic users. And from what I can tell, dragons are very sensitive to magic.” and that’s when he said it. “So you probably picked up on the fact that I love you.”

Fuck.

FUCK.

Tobias emitted a low croaking noise as he realized what he had just said. Why the fuck had he said that? I mean, it wasn’t that unusual for him to say that platonically to his friends, back when he had friends. It just sort of slipped out. But this time was different. This time it meant something. 

Fuck. he could… he could just brush it off, say that he didn’t mean it. But that would be lying. And he couldn’t bring himself to lie. Not anymore. especially not to the people he cared about. And he did care about Abberax, more than he had cared about anything before. The feeling burned in his chest, even when he tried to push it down. He had to be responsible, but all he wanted to do was cuddle Abberax to sleep. 

“You… you love me?” Abberax said at last. And once again Tobias found himself lost in those deep ruby eyes, that sparkled with vulnerability. This was the moment, he had to say it. Tobias took a deep breath, and finally said:

“Um.. there are many kinds of love, and I’m not sure what kind I feel yet, but I know that I love you, and I want you to be happy, and I want to be with you. I care about you. I really do. “

There. He could be happy with that answer. But Abberax didn’t seem to be. He turned away and stared at the floor.

“You can’t love me. I’m terrible.”

“You aren’t terrible-” Tobias started, but Abberax cut him off

“‘Abberax the Terrible’, that’s what they used to call me. I hurt so many people. I was the great evil dragon. I was just so angry. I knew it was wrong, but I still did it. I would wake up every day vowing to change my ways and at the first trouble I would go back into a rage at everything. I’m an evil dragon and there’s nothing I can do about it. Then one day they finally gave me what I deserved. I wish they had just killed me then…” Abberax was sobbing at this point, tears rolling down his face, he could barely even speak between sobs. It had never been this bad before.

Tobias tried to comfort him, snuggled himself up against him, and said,

“Look, I know what you did. I’ve read about it. And even if everything the books say is true, I still don’t think you are terrible. I’ve… done some pretty bad things too. But you can change. I know you can. And I will help you the best that I can.. I know we can make things right. I still think you are worthy of love. I still love you.” 

Abberax seemed to be calmed by this, he laid his head down on the cushions, and Tobias was pulled down on top of him. He could… he could deal with this for now. So much had just happened. He needed time to think...

So many alarm bells were going off in his mind, but he ignored them. He was so happy, and anxious, and overwhelmed, and he just sank into Abberax’s body and held him. He could actually relax a little. It was nice. His body was warm and smelled like burnt wood. He let all his thoughts go and just existed in the moment for a while…

He awoke to Abberax’s stomach growling. He hadn’t even realized he fell asleep. He hadn’t fallen asleep that easily in years.

“Hungry already, are you?” he said with a smile. Truth be told, he liked watching the dragon eat.

There was no response

He looked over at Abberax, who was staring blankly at the wall, looking despondent. 

“Hey, Abberax, are you ok?” he gently laid his hands on the dragon’s neck, who started

“What?” Abberax gave him a surprise look 

“Your stomach was growling, and you were acting strange for a bit there. How are you feeling?” Tobias’s smile faded. Clearly he was upset about something, and it was all his fault. He should have talked to him more, should have asked him if he was ok, instead he only cared about his own feelings. He had been so selfish! 

The dragon stared at him for a while, and eventually said “I’m hungry” 

Knowing there had to be more to it than this, but deciding that getting the dragon to eat was the best way to get him to talk, Tobias said “Then let’s get you some food!” he mustered the best fake smile he could.

“Bacon?” Tobias saw the dragon’s eyes light up at the mention of food. At least his emotions hadn’t assuaged his hunger for bacon. 

“I’m afraid you already ate the last of it. But we do have other things to eat. Come with me.”

Abberax followed him into the kitchen, the only other room in the house that could fit the dragon. It was fortunate he was so fond of high ceilings and open spaces, or he wouldn’t be able to fit at all

He opened the fridge, and Abberax stared at it wide-eyed. 

“You keep all that food in your magic cold box?”   
“Well, it's not magic, it's electrical… which is probably the same thing as magic as far as you’re concerned. Anyway, I have some ham and cheese for sandwiches, some lettuce for a salad, some leftover chili'' as he said this, he put them out on the counter for the dragon to see, though his eyes were still focused on the fridge “we also have some more things in the pantry if you want to…” 

he was interrupted by the sound of a bowl smashing behind him, and turned around to see Abberax with chili all over his face, looking embarrassed. All the other food he took out had already been eaten too. He sighed. 

“You’re supposed to heat it up first, you silly dragon.” Abberax’s eyes widened and he hung his head with shame. 

“I’m sorry! I was hungry! I didn’t mean to…” he flinched back, as though he expected to be struck.

“It's ok! It’s ok… I’m not mad at you. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” 

He held Abberax’s head close to his chest, and planted a kiss on his forehead.

“ I promise I will never get mad at you for making a mistake.” he held on to Abberax until at last the dragon pulled away, and then said “come on now, let's get you cleaned up and then I will have to go into town to get more food” 

“You’re going to leave?” asked Abberax, as he was wiping down his face. He almost sounded scared. 

Tobias thought about this for a moment. He could take Abberax with him, he supposed. The order of monster hunters already knew about him, so it's not like there was any point keeping him a secret. And while a dragon showing up in the middle of the marketplace would be strange. It wasn’t likely to cause a panic. Otherfolk society was used to having strange creatures walking around. It's not like a dragon was any more of an unusual sight than a human, after all. Surely he could keep things under control. 

“I suppose you can come with me. That way we can get you something to eat and bring home some stuff that you would like.” 

As he led Abberax down the road towards the village, he began to have second thoughts. Maybe this was a terrible idea. But surely it couldn’t be that bad, could it?

Could it?

**Author's Note:**

> Stay tuned for more


End file.
